Door-operating mechanism



May 7, 1929- H. w. sHoNNARD DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 5, 1924 ,lA/Ill. 1] 1 l a l 1 VII?! l l l l l e l ATroRNgY;

Patented May 7, 1929.

Hannan w; siioNNAnD, 0F MoNTcLAiR, New JERSEY; Assrenon SUPPLIES COMPANY, INC.,KA 1CORPORATION` OF JERSEY.

To ,nLnvA'roR noon-OPERATING 'MECHANISM .Application filed September r5,* 1924. `Serial No. 736,030.

This invention relates to door operating mechanisms and more particularly to mechanisms of this character especially adapted for use in connection with the doors of elevator hatchways. f

In a mechanism of this character it has been customary toemploy means to close the door which ordinarily comprises a spring which is effective throughout the door closing` movement. .In such door closing movements there is almost alwaysk a considerable inertia to be overcome before the door begins to close rapidly. This is often the case even whenthe first portion ot the closing` movement of the door `'is assisted manually, inasmuch as elevator operators ordinarily `have to close hundreds of. hatchway doors a day and therefore exert theminiinum effort which is necessary to start the door closing movement. Moreover it is usually not practicable to increase the strength olf the door closing` springor other means suiiiciently to overcome the inertiaof the door, since this spring or other means is usually compressed or otherwise rendered. operative by `the spring movement of thedoor, which. movement will be opposed and; retarded by any extraordinary strength of the doorclosing means. Time of operation is, of course, a most essential element to be considered in connection with elevator installations in the busyoliice buildings vot the present day, and the time lost whilethe usual door closing means is overcomingtheinertia ot the door is, in the aggregate, very likely t'o be enough to necessitate the installation-oi" an. eXtra elevator, with the rconsequent vheavy addition to the cost, iiotonly of installation, but also` .of operation andoverhead. In any case, the cost of operation-` and the `quality of the service given is very dependent upon Athe operation ot the elevatorr with, as much speed as possible. In` this connection it` shouldbe noted that with aview of obtainingcomplete saliety ot operation many elevators are equipped with meansfwhich prevent their movement as long as thehatchway doors are open. y .p f j It is therefore one object of this invention to provide in adoor operating mechanism means to accelerate theinitial portion ot` a door,I closing movement. 'if v -L The door closing spring. is usually ai'- ranged to be operative upon arod orfother movable member, such as they stem of.. a

' present in use may The invention will be described inits 4preferredform in connection with a` particu- .ings as applied to a pair mechanism f for open in g .doors comprises a door operatinlgzlever 12 .consisting ot members Y 4member 14` is pivoted to the door 10 `at 17 f VMember 15is pivoted on.

which is pivoted elevatory hatc'hway.:

plunger of a door closer and check mechanism, and the rod is a doei-operating lever. 'The pivotal connection between therod and the lever ordinarily has consisted ot a shaft carried by the lever and running through a transverse bore in therod; I This `type otl connection has proved somewhat unsatisfactory because the wear of the shalt against the replacement of the rod periodically during the `use ofthe mechanism, and whenthe rod is Aconnected to the Aplunger of av door check mechanism, which is diiiicult to take apart and,toreassemble, the replacement of the rod will entail considerable time and expense. y Q ,i 'y

It isthereore anotherobjcct 'of the invention to provide ,an improved4 connection. between the relatively movable members of a door operating mechanism whereby-this and other disadvantagesct the connections at bev overcome.y

lar type ofdoor operating mechanism such asis shown in the accompanying drawings,

' Fig. 1 .is aviewof an elevator hatchway l'showing the doors and the dooroperating mechanism; l i f f Fig. 2 is a view partlyin section showing the doorI closer andcheck mechanism;

showing they pivotal joint between the plunger` stem and the vdoor opferating lever; and f 4 is Fig.3.-.j l TDG particular embodiment of. the liiiventionA to jbe described is` shown in the drawa section on lthefline in.

ing?)` doors 10 and 11' which are adapted tork close ahatchway Vto an elevator shaft. The `and closing the 14, 15 andk 16. The and pivotally kjoined tomember 15 atlS.

is pivotally"connected-atQO tomembefr 1G at 21 to the sideof the `On fthe 'end' of lever member 15 vadjacent to the pivotal connection 18 there isprovided a Trip 23 to faciliytate manual operation of the lever.;v K.

pivotally connected to its bearing necessitates ani enlarged section. on the lines 3-3 in Fig. 2

o t horizontally sliddoor` l1 vat ,19, and

'easy removal when the wear Fig. 2 illustrates a particular type of door closing and check mechanism which embodies the invention in its preferred form and which is adapted for4 use with a d oor operating lever such as just described. rl`his mechanism comprises a casing 25 which is pivotally attached at 26 to a bracket 27 'fastened to the side of the elevator hatchway. 1n the casing 25- are formed a dash pot cylinder 28 and a spring containing chamber 29 which may be of any well lrnown type. Y

In the dash pot chamber 26 there is provided a plunger 31, the stem ot which consists of a rod 32 which extends through the chamber 29 and outwardly through the cap 43 toward the door operating lever 12. The stem 32 is pivotally connected to an attachment 34 on member 16 of this lever. As shown in the drawings Jthis pivotal connection comprises a connecting member 36 which is` detachably mounted4 on the end of the rod 32 in 'any suitable manner, as by means of a pin 37 which is held in place by a nut 88. A shat 40 extending through the attachment 34 and the connecting member 36 and running transversely to the stem 32 servesto connect members 34 and 36 so as to provide the desired pivotal joint. This shaft may be held inV place by any suitable means, as by cotter pins 41, which permit its the connecting member B6 necessitates the replacement or' either oi' these members. In the particular type of mechanism shown in the drawings, the door-closing means consists oi' a spring 42 which is spiraled about the stem 82 inside chamber 29 and which is compressibly held between a. cap 43 at the top et casing 25 and a cap 44 whichis carried on the rod 32. The spring 42 is thus adapted to be `compressed as the doors 10 and 11 are opened, andv to be effective to push the rod 32 downwardly and to cause a movement oi. the lever 12 whereby the door is closed. ln order to accelerate the initial portion of this door-closing movement and to assist the spring 42 in overcoming the inertia of the door, there is provided means which is effective at the beginning of the door-closing movement and which in mechanism shown in the drawing consists of a spring 46 which is spiraled about the stem 32 and rests upon the cap 44. On the opposite end of the spring 46 there is set a slidable washer 47 which is adapted to contact with the cap 43 toward the end of the movementof the stem E32 as the doors are opened so .thatthe spring `46 will be compressed between cap 43 and 'cap 44 at the end of this movement.

It is believed that the operation o' the particular mechanism shown in the dra-wings, will be readily apparent from the foregoing description. As an elevator is 4and 11 open,

of the shaft on V40 to be made as large as the rod stopped opposite a closed hatchway such as is shown in Fig. 1, the operator will seize the grip 23 and pull it downwardly, as the mechanism appears in the drawing, so as to iold the lever 12 and to pull the doors 1() or to the lett as shown in Fig. 1. As the lever 12 is folded the member 16 will be moved upwardly so as to rotate about its pivot 21, and will draw the stem 32 in an upward direction, which movement will carry the cap 44 toward the top ot the casing 25. During the first part oi' 'this opening movement, when the inertia ot the doors to be overcome, only the spring 42 will be compressed. Towards the end ot' its movement, however, the cap 44 causes also a compression of spring 46; so that when the doors 1() and 11 are in their completely open position, and the members oi' the toggle lever are folded completely upon each other, the plunger 31 will be toward the top of the dash pot chamber 2S, he cap 44 will be near the top of the chamber 29, and both the springs 42 and 46 will be compressed. lt should be noted that the spring 46y serves as a cushion for the doors at the end of their closing movement- When he desires to close the doors of this type the operator releases them, whereupon the pressure of the springs 42 and 46 will be eiiective upon the bent lever 12 to cause the movement of the doors toward their closed position. The auxiliary spring 46 will add sultieient force to the pressure exerted by spring 42 at the beginningof this movement to readily overcome the inertia of the doors, and to greatly accelerate their movement. After the doors are once moving rapidly toward their closed position, the pressure alone of the spring 42 against the cap 44 will be sutlicie-nt to carryon their movement. It has been found that bythe use of an auxiliary door-'closing means such as spring 46, the time of closing of a door can be'reduced onehal. W' hen, in the course of time, the pin 40 and its bearing in connecting member 36 become worn through constant operation of the doors, leither of these members may be readily replaced by the removal of thevr shaft from its bearings after the removal of pinl 41 and by detaching member 36 from stem 32 after the removal of the nut 38 and the pin 37. it should also be notedthat the provision of the connecting member 36 enables the shaft 36, as shown in the drawings, or larger than the rod, `it desirable. Moreover the particular type of connection shown in the drawings is especially coinpact'and may be used even when 12 space require-ments have littlev room between the shaft 40 and the cap 43 when the door is closed. i

While a speciiicvform of the invention has been described in connection with particular mechanism it should be'clearly understood that the invention is limited neither to the form or embodiment shown and described, but is capable of being employed innumerous forms and in a large varietyl of embodiments.

What is claimed is:

A drivingconnection comprising a yoke member, a one piece rigid connecting member having;- a socket therein and an opening1 above said socket, a shaft pivotallyrmounting said connecting member between the arms of the yokemember, said shaft passing` through the opening in the connecting member and through the yoke member, said connecting member having a passage interceptingthe socket of the connecting member, a driving rod having one end received in the socket, and means for taking up Wear betweensaid rod and socket Wall, said means vcomprising` a passage in said rod aligned With the socket intcrcepting passage in the connecting member, a taper pin passing through the aligned passages of the driving rodr and the connecting member, and positive means for secu ing said taper pin in different positions of adjustn'ient.

Signed at Hoboken, h. J. this 8rd day of September 1924. f

y HAROLD W. SHONNARD. 

